Sunday, January 14, 2007

At the risk of being so last year (or even so last year's last year) it's another cupcake recipe from me. I would like to think of this cupcake as "retro" instead of passé. Nevertheless, I present to you my deep dark chocolate espresso cupcake. I know it bears a slight resemblance to those brand name cupcakes that you can buy at the supermarket or convenience store and probably ate as a child. But appearance is where the similarity ends. My cupcake is a dark chocolate cupcake filled with a creamy espresso mascarpone cheese, chocolate glazed and decorated with a squiggle of icing. Although I couldn't really taste the coffee in the cupcake, it adds some depth of flavor when paired with chocolate. The filling is all about espresso. Creamy mascarpone cheese is transformed with ground espresso beans making this a grown-up version of a childhood favorite.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, sift together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the eggs, egg yolk, milk, oil, vanilla and coffee and beat on low speed until well combined.

Fill your prepared muffin cups about 2/3 full. Bake until a cake tested comes out clean, about 18-23 minutes. Leave cupcakes in pan for 5 minutes then remove from pan and cool completely on cooling rack.

To make filling

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the mascarpone, milk, vanilla and espresso until fluffy. On low speed, slowly beat in the sugar until smooth. Transfer filling to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain tip. Insert tip into the top center of cooled cupcake and dispense about 2 tsp filling into the cupcake.

To make glaze

Combine chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until well combined about 2-3 minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Frost the filled cupcakes with the warm glaze.

EDITED (January 25, 2007)

Kitchen Wench Ellie told me about the cupcake round-up event hosted by Cupcake Bakeshop’s Cheryl and Vanilla Garlic’s Garrett. Fellow San Franciscan Cheryl blogs exclusively about her super creative, out-of-the-box cupcake masterpieces and Garrett does Sacramento proud with his culinary shibby-ness in the kitchen and about town.

i tried your recipe this afternoon and it turned out to be so delicious. i have been looking for a dark cupcakes in which not too sweet and moist and finally found yours. thank you for sharing the recipe.

I can't imagine anything better than eating that cupcake with my coffee, which I'm drinking right now! They do remind me of the cupcakes that I bought in the grocery store as a child. But, yours leave them in the dust, of course!

How do we tell the difference b/w normal cocoa n dutch processed cocoa? i bought 2 boxes of cocoa Van Houten n Droste. Both are made in Holland. I know dutch processed cocoa has been treated with alkalizing agent but tht doesnt help me.

Melissa- The best way is to look at the ingredients. Alkalized, also known as Dutch-process, will include "alkali" in the list of ingredients. Non-dutch processed cocoa will simply say cocoa. I hope this helps.

Just made these after finding your recipe doing a Google search on "espresso cupcakes"--they were so incredibly good and I can't believe how yummy the center is. My only question is, I'm refrigerating them overnight (they're for a work party mid-day) because of the mascarpone cheese; did you do the same to keep them, or fill them immediately before serving or...? Just want to know, since I'll most certainly be making these again & want to serve them in the best way. Thanks!

Kalila - I'm glad you liked the cupcakes. It's fine to refrigerate them. Although I would take them out at least 30 minutes before I plan to serve them. They're good cold, but better when at room temperature.

Hi Mary. CHOCOLATE & ESSPRESSO!!! In u cupcake?!!!! I cant decide if thats a human rights violation or genius! Wow it just doesnt get better than that...& the pic of the cupcakes look even more delectably scrumptious than they sound!!I HAVE TO GIVE IT A GO. Im a cupake addict check out mu blog on cupcakes:http//cupcakedecor.blogspot.

The alpine strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is a cousin of the wild strawberry. It's sometimes simply referred to as alpineberry. I love to bake, cook and garden. My blog is a place to share my recipes and other tiny tidbits of my life.